23 January 2003 -- The West Coast optoelectronics business of Allentown, Pennsylvania-based Agere Systems has been acquired for USD25m in cash by EMCORE Corp of Somerset, New Jersey.
The transaction includes assets, products, technology and intellectual property related to Agere's cable TV optical components, telecom access and satellite communications operations, which had revenues of about USD56m in fiscal 2002. Agere's West Coast optoelectronics group, located in Alhambra and Irwindale, California, consists mainly of the assets, personnel and operations of Ortel Corp, which was acquired by Agere's former parent company Lucent Technologies in April 2000.
"Agere's fibre-optics products increase the capacity and performance of fibre-optic networks, enabling them to handle ever-increasing volumes of voice, video and data communications for both cable TV and telecom access applications," said Reuben F Richards Jr, president and CEO of EMCORE, which offers compound semiconductor products for the broadband, wireless communications and solid-state lighting markets.
"This business complements our current portfolio of solutions for high-speed data and telecommunications networking systems," he adds. "We are committed to helping our customers realise the full potential of the 'triple play' in voice, data and video applications and intend to expand our existing portfolio of digital optoelectronic products to assist our customers in deploying fibre to the home and office."
EMCORE estimates this business will have revenue of USD30-40m for the fiscal year to end-September 2003.
Agere's West Coast optoelectronics business has a workforce of about 230 employees, of which 215 will join EMCORE. The business will be consolidated into the facility in Alhambra, California, which EMCORE will now lease and will be operated as Ortel, a division of EMCORE. As previously announced, Agere will exit the facility in Irwindale, California by the end of March.
"We are pleased that we have now completed the sale of our optoelectronics operations as planned," said Sohail Khan, executive VP of Agere's Infrastructure Systems Group. "We are focusing our resources sharply on delivering advanced chips for wireless networks, multi-service networking and high-density storage applications."